The Dark One Rituals
by Necromancer Gora
Summary: A power that has long since been forgotten has once again revealed itself after what was supposed to be an eternal sleep. What does Naruto have to do with this ancient power, and how will it affect his future? Only time will tell.
1. Prologue

**See chapter one for disclaimer**

_Prologue_

_Long ago, before the ninja arts were discovered, there was an art… an art so dark, so dangerous, that few dared to even learn it. This art was known as many things. The forbidden rituals, the Demon Arts, the Ceremonies of the Soul. But amongst these name, only one stood out as the true name…_

_The Dark One Rituals…_

_The Mouth, the Bone, the Blood, the Breath, the Sense, the Heart, and the Essence…_

_What is the Dark One you may ask? Nobody knows except maybe the few remaining people who use these forbidden arts, people known as 'Users'. And even then, there only remain a few of them, and most have become so warped, so twisted by these rituals that they no longer have minds of their own. However, there was one person who sought to use these rituals for to better himself, to protect those precious to him, and destroy those who would use these powers to rule the world. He died trying, or at least that is what everyone thought. He was sealed away by the God of Death, never to be seen until one used the arts to free him, or at least attempt to seal a being of equal or greater strength… but the chances of that were next to impossible… at least until that eventful day… when our story begins…_


	2. Chapter One: The Beggining

**Disclaimer: Hello this Gora and I am here to tell you one very important detail. Make sure you pay attention because it is ****VERY ****important. I DO NOT OWN NARUTO OK!!! IF I DID THEN IT WOULDN' T HAVE TAKEN HINATA 500 CHAPTERS TO CONFESS TO NARUTO!!! Ok well that's about it, oh and some of the ideas that I am using for this story are not mine either so credit goes to whoever owns them as well. The only thing I own is a few of the OC's. Thanks for listening, bye.**

Oh and before I start, No, I am not going to bother using the Japanese names for jutsu's and all that other stuff, I do not speak Japanese nor am I going to learn anytime soon. I may use honorifics such as chan and kun but that's about it. So if this is a turn off for anyone then you can stop reading now.

Chapter 1: The Beginning

The wind was howling and the sky was bleak. Before him stood a massive fox with nine-tails swinging violently behind it. As he stood upon his faithful friend and summons Gamabunta, the boss toad, the blond haired, blue eyed man thought to himself, "So it has come to this." Looking down at the small bundle in his arms, he said sadly, "I am sorry… Naruto."

He placed the bundle down and separated the cloth revealing a child, a new born infant. He strokes the child's face lovingly before standing up straight and then forming several dozen hand seals. The very fabric of space and time seemed to tear at the seams as he called out, "Sealing Jutsu: Death God Seal!"

Then, appearing behind the man, a sinister demonic figure wearing ceremonial robes, seems to almost fade into existence. Before him the fox's eyes take on an almost fearful look, but it still continues to rage on, attacking everything in sight. Then the now completely formed Death God, plunges its arms through the man and through him reaches out and grabs the fox, pulling it steadily toward them. The giant fox struggles with all its might, trying to break free of the Death Gods grip, but to no avail. Eventually the fox is pulled to the point where it is directly in front of the giant frog, and then, in a magnificent flash of light, the fox disappears, and on the infant's body, a spiral seal forms around his navel, and marks resembling whiskers appear on both the child's cheeks. The Death God, seeing that its job was done , pulls its arms back out of the man's body, dragging his soul along with them. Then as mysteriously as the Death God appeared, it vanished, taking the man's with it. The man, with the last of his strength, picked up the infant, just as Gamabunta vanished in a puff of smoke. Having neither the strength nor the will to try and land safely on the ground, he fell, clutching the boy to him protectively. He hit the ground with a thud and all around him people cried out.

"Minato!"

"Sensei!"

"Yondaime!"

However, their words fell on deaf ears as the man, Minato, the fourth hokage, slipped into the dark embrace that was death.

---

"_Where am I?" a voice seemed to echo throughout the expanse of completely empty room._

"_How did I get here?"_

"_No, more importantly, why am I here?"_

_Another voice, this one almost completely silent, but still somehow able to be heard seems to answer the first voice._

"_I should not… no I cannot be here. I made sure to dispose of all evidence of that art."_

_Again the second voice answers._

"_Impossible! I cannot be set free! I do not deserve to be set free! I was supposed to be sealed forever!"_

_The second voice laughs at the first and then says something else._

"_Wait! Come back! There must be some sort of mistake! I cannot be alive! It is impossible!"_

_The second voice says one last thing as it fades into the distance._

"… _I understand. I accept my fate. I will not make the same mistakes twice. On my name, Lev, I shall help the one cursed by the very art that I sought to destroy. I shall once again use… those forbidden rituals…"_

_The first voice, Lev's, fades into nothingness._

---

The entire room was abuzz with excitement, most of it was apparently because of the presence of the small infant who now lay uncovered in the middle of the long table. Many voices were heard, some saying things like "Kill the demon," and "The fourth must be avenged. Others were saying the complete opposite such as, "He must live," and "He is the fourth's legacy."

Amongst the many people now arguing over the supposed fate of the infant, only one was completely silent. An old man, smoking a pipe and wearing a ridiculously large hat merely sighs, takes a long breath from his pipe and thinks, "I am too old for this shit." Eventually the old man, Sarutobi, calls out in a stern voice full of wisdom and kindness, yet at the same time retaining a tone that demanded complete respect and cooperation. "Enough!"

The room fall's silent as the many people gather there stare at him. Taking another drag from his pipe, holding it in for a moment so that he may enjoy the full calming effects of the tobacco then exhaling, letting out a large cloud of smoke, Sarutobi remains silent for a minute, merely staring out at the collected group. Then after what felt like an eternity he spoke.

"I have had just about enough of this foolishness. This child is not the Kyuubi," he looks at a tall dark haired many with onyx eyes as he says this, "Nor a weapon," this time looking at a bandaged old man with only one arm, "Nor will he be killed," this time he gave a hard look at a pale skinned man with even paler eyes and long brown hair. He waits another moment then continues, "This boy is a hero, a legacy, and to my great regret, a human sacrifice." He stands up and walks over to the child, looking down at him over his long nose that at some time must have been broken, but obviously didn't heal quite right. The child, looks back at him with blue eyes full of wonder, mischief, and over all else, purity. He then looks back up and says, "If you lot are too boneheaded to realize this then I will have but no choice but to take action."

A women with shocking bubblegum pink hair stands up, nearly knocking over her chair in the process, and exclaims, "But Hokage-sama, this child is quite obviously the demon in the guise of an infant! I mean just look at it!"

This argument was not very sound to begin with but was rendered even more so when the child playfully giggled at the crazy pink haired lady and then stuck its hand its mouth, drooling as he did so.

Sarutobi shook with barely controlled rage as the other people gathered started to start arguing again. "ENOUGH," he cried out, the room falling silent once more. "I can see that none of you are going to be reasonable about this so I have no choice but to take action. From this moment forth, it is forbidden to speak of this child's fate to anyone outside this room, under penalty of death. I also declare this child as an official ward of the hokage."

The room seemed to explode with violent protest as Sarutobi sat down. "I really am too old for this shit," he thought as stared at the infant, who only continued to play with the blankets surrounding him, completely oblivious as to what was going on.

---

Outside the hokages mansion where the people were arguing over the fate of the child, standing on top of the hokage's monument stood a figure, almost completely covered in dark robes, who was deciding also what he should about the child. The figure said silently to no one in particular, "So this is where the cause of my release can be found huh. Very well, I shall watch over the child… until the time is right." The figure seem to vanish into the wind, leaving no trace behind that he ever was there.


	3. Chapter Two: The Meeting

**Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or any of the concepts I may have borrowed from other sources, but I do own some of the OC's, so yeah, that's all I have to say**

Normally I would like to make my chapters bit longer but I have decided to update shorter chapters more often than longer chapters less often

Chapter 2: The Meeting

A young boy of only four years of age on this day, with blond hair and striking blue eyes, finds himself once again subject to hateful glares and hurtful words. This boy is Uzumaki Naruto. Naruto did not know why the villagers hated him, nor did he know much about anything for that matter. Any opportunity he had to learn was quickly stolen from him, whether it is access to public libraries, theaters, and even shops, Naruto constantly found himself shunned. Because of this, he grew up physically malnourished and mentally underdeveloped. He didn't even know how to read!

Normally he could deal with all this, but on this particular day, the villagers took their resentment of him to a new level. He would be beaten, things would be thrown at him, and in general, everyone would go out of their way to make his life hell. He was used to it by now; after all he had been dealing with this for as long as he could remember, although that really is not a very long time. On days like this he usually stays holed up in his little apartment, with the door locked, and hiding under the covers. However, something was about to happen that would turn his sad little world upside down and inside out.

---

The sun was setting on this day of October 10th, and Naruto had just finished his rather meager meal of instant ramen and not so fresh milk. As he was cleaning up his mess using the bathroom sink, he heard a crash and the distinct tinkling of glass breaking. He just sighed and thought, "Great, there goes another window. I wonder what they threw this time. Probably another brick " However, he was gravely mistaken, for something did not get thrown through the window, instead it was a man, who after landing on the floor littered with empty instant ramen packets and cups, went over to the door and unlocked, allowing four other men to enter the room. Naruto exited the bathroom, and upon finding the 5 men let out a yell. Of course, nobody heard or bothered to listen. The men advanced on Naruto and immediately started to beat on him with various objects such as bats, lead pipes, and empty liquor bottles. All the while saying things like, "Die Demon," and "This is for everything you did to the village."

After a while, the ninja, a chunin judging by the vest he wore, pulled a kunai from a pouch at his hip and raised it up, preparing to plunge it into Naruto's heart. Naruto seeing this, panicked, for split second, then he tried crying out one more time, but again, no one seemed to hear him. The chunin brought the blade down swiftly, and Naruto was sure that his life was going to end right then and there. However, at that moment, the sun had completely disappeared over the horizon. There was a mighty clang as the kunai met not flesh but instead made contact with steel. Before the startled ninja could do anything else, he found his world turn dark, as his head seemed to just roll off his shoulders, and fall to the floor. The other men panicked, and attempted to flee, only to find their path blocked by a dark figure.

"Now where are you going," the figure said in an eerily calm voice, "I would have thought that you would have been prepared die seeing as you have entered the lair of a so called demon. So why are you so frightened now? Where did all that courage go from a moment ago when you were beating on the demon?"

One of the men tried to respond but he found that he could not speak. It was if he had suddenly become mute! "Not going answer huh," the figure said, "Well aren't you the rude bunch. I really hate rude people." The figure then raised his arms and clapped them together, as if in prayer, then said in the same calm voice, "Mouth Ritual: Forced Mind Closing."

All four men fell to the floor with a slump. Naruto, who had up till this point had remained silent, finally spoke, "What did you do to them?"

The figure, stepped toward Naruto, entering the rays of moon light revealing to be a man no older than 20, dressed in ceremonial dark robes, a mane of ebony hair, his eyes completely covered by a blood red bandana. "They are merely unconscious," he said calmly, although the tone he sued was much lighter than the one he used when talking to the would be assailants.

"Who are you," Naruto asked suddenly not as frightened of the man as he was a moment ago, "What do you want?"

The man looked at Naruto, or at least he appeared to be looking at him, you couldn't really tell with his eyes covered. After a few moments he answered. "My name, young one, is Lev. And I am here to become your guardian."


	4. Chapter Three: The Proposal

**Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto and I don't own some of the ideas and concepts presented in this story. I do own some of the OC's though so… yeah… that's about all**

_I probably won't update very quickly but I promise to keep updating whenever I get the chance, or whenever I feel motivated enough_

Chapter Three: The Proposal

"To become my guardian," Naruto asked, tilting his head in confusion, "What do you mean by that?"

Lev sighed and then responded, "Look I'll be honest with you young one. You carry a heavy burden; a burden that is both a blessing as well as a curse."

Now Naruto was even more confused, "Okkkk… but what does that have to do with you becoming my guardian?"

Lev sighed once more, and then gesturing towards the bed, and then said, "You might want to sit down for this." Naruto plopped down on the bed and Lev took a seat on the only chair in the room. "What I am about to tell you is true and I don't want you interrupting until the very end, understood?" naruto nodded and Lev's face took on a very thoughtful expression. "Very well, were should I begin?"

(I am not going to go into a long and boring explanation so let's just skip ahead shall we?)

---

After Lev's long and, somewhat dull talk, he and Naruto just stared at each other for a minute, neither moving an inch, until finally Naruto spoke up. "So let me get this straight; you expect me to believe that your some thousand year old being that was sealed away for using something called the Dark One rituals, and were just released four years ago. And you have come back into existence in order to teach me these rituals because of the 'burden' that I carry," Naruto said. "That is correct," Lev said and then there was another awkward pause.

Then all of a sudden Naruto jumped up, a huge grin on his face, and excitedly said, "Wow really? That is so cool! What are you going to teach me? Can we start now? How powerful are these ritual things anyway?" along with a plethora of other questions. Lev was taken back; he was not expecting such a… enthusiastic response. He was expecting to have to prove himself but then again, this is a four year old we are talking about… was he this easy to convince when he was that age… of course not.

He stood up and walked over to the now highly energetic bundle and placed his left hand on the child's head. "So I take that as a yes," he asked, a small smile hovering over his lips. "Yep," Naruto replied, his grin so wide that it nearly took up his entire face.

Lev's smile vanished almost immediately and then he said, "Very well. Now you must learn of the burden you carry. And when you do, I hope that you will not hate those you hold dear."

"What do you mean by," Naruto started to ask, but was cut off as Lev slammed his right hand into the child's stomach, knocking him out almost instantly. "May any gods that may be watching, please look after this child," Lev said as he clasped his hands together, as if in prayer, then said in a commanding voice, "Heart Ritual: Voice of the Inner Spirit." He then placed both hands that were now glowing a soft, sickly looking green color, upon Naruto's chest.

---

Naruto found himself in a sewer. How did he know it was a sewer? Well the fact that he had to duck down into a few of them from time to time to avoid would be assailants are the reason. "Where am I," he asked to no one in particular.

He then heard a voice, seeming to call him from down a nearby passage way. He followed the voice, walking down twisting passage ways, filled with murky water, until he came upon a giant room. The room was totally nondescript except for the fact that it contained a cage the size of a mountain in it. Yeah, completely not noteworthy.

Being the curious child that he was, Naruto walked up to the large cage, which seemed to be the origin of the voice that he had been following. Stuck to the cage was a piece of paper with the kanji for 'seal' on it. Even though he could not read, he just seemed to know instinctively what it meant. As he got close to the cage, a large claw lashed out at him, clashing against the metal bars. Naruto fell back into the water, and when he did, he looked up, and up, and up, into the large glowing red eyes of a fox, a giant nine-tailed fox.

"_I want to eat you," _the fox seemed to say_, "I want to rip you limb from limb, but this accursed seal won't let me. Come closer so that I may devour you."_

Now Naruto wasn't _that _stupid. He wasn't about to do anything like… correction, he is even stupider. Naruto just insulted the giant, malevolent demon who hates his guts. "What the heck is an oversized fur ball like you doing in a sewer?"

Now the fox didn't take this very gently, just the opposite in fact. "_Despicable human," _it bellowed, barring its fangs at Naruto, "_I am the mighty demon lord, Kyuubi, and I demand that you show me respect!"_

Now Naruto was a little frightened, so this time he at least tried to be respectful. "O-Ok. What is such a powerful demonic fur ball such as yourself doing in a sewer?"

Kyuubi sighed and thought, "_This is the human that accursed yondaime sealed me into. Now I hate him even more. Oh well, might as well make the best of it." _He then sat down so that he was as eye-level with the frightened child as was physically possible. "_What I am doing here," _Kyuubi said, "_Is waiting for you to release me you annoying little brat."_

"And why, pray tell, should I do a stupid thing like that," Naruto asked.

"_So that we may get revenge," _Kyuubi replied.

"Revenge," Naruto asked, even more confused than he was before, "Why would I want to get revenge?"

At this, Kyuubi gave a very toothy grin and replied, "_Why for sealing me inside you of course. You should take revenge on the accursed humans of Konoha who sealed me inside you. The very humans who hate you very something you could not prevent."_

Naruto's face was now one of complete and utter shock. "N-no! That's not possible," he cried out, holding his head, tears filling his eyes, "You mean to tell me that-"

"_Yes naruto_," a new voice said and both Kyuubi and Naruto turned towards the new comer. "_What are doing here bird," _Kyuubi spat as the figure flew towards them.

"_Me," _the voice, a slightly bigger than average raven, replied as it landed softly on Naruto's shoulder, "_I am simply here to ensure that young Naruto here does not get any wrong ideas, like him being you or you being him, how the people of the village lied to him all his life. How he is nothing more than a demon and a monster. Those kinds of things."_

Naruto looked at the raven in shock and started to say, "But, I mean, if he," and point's at Kyuubi, "Is in me then doesn't that mean-"

"_Popycock," _the raven said, "_You are no more a demon than I am rat with wings. Just because we have been called those things doesn't mean that we are what they call us."_

Naruto calmed down quite a bit upon hearing this, but then said, "Ok, but if you are here, does that mean that you're a spirit as well?"

The raven grinned, or at least did the closest thing to a grin that it was capable of, then replied, "_Hey you're pretty sharp. Yes, I am spirit, an inner spirit at that. I am the thing that gives people who use the Dark One rituals, or Users as we call them, their power. Every User has a unique spirit that upon the moment they start using the rituals, obtains."_

"So does that mean you're my inner spirit," Naruto asked, slightly disappointed that his inner spirit was so weak looking.

"_Nope," _the raven replied, "_I am Lev's inner spirit. And I'll have you know that we spirits are not judged by how big or powerful we are. We simply determine what types of rituals you can or can't use. So even though I myself am weak, my User is very strong so we balance each other out rather nicely."_

"Ok," Naruto said nodding, "then who is my inner spirit?"

The raven pointed at the cage with a wing. "Wait," Naruto said, fear in his eyes, and "Don't tell me that-"_I refuse to be this brat's inner spirit," _Kyuubi growled, thrashing about in his cage… yes in my story the Kyuubi is a he.

The raven laughed evilly at this then said, "_You don't have a choice. The spirit council has decided that you 'will' be this lad's inner spirit. And there is nothing you can say or do to change that fact. After all, this boy has a destiny to fulfill. He is the one who will-"_

At this, Lev's voice seemed to echo throughout the room, "Ciar! You speak too much. Hurry up and get out so that Naruto can wake up."

Ciar, with an embarrassed look on his beak quickly said, "_Whoops! Sorry, I'll be heading out now," _then took wing and flew off down a corridor.

"Wait," Naruto and Kyuubi cried out in unison before suddenly everything went black.

---

Naruto awoke in a cold sweat. He glanced around the room, his sight landing on Lev who had once again taken a seat on the chair. Lev just looked at Naruto… or at least he thought he was looking at him. It was kind of difficult to tell with his eyes covered. "Now Naruto," Lev started to say, "Do you understand what I meant by 'do not hate those you hold dear'?"

Naruto nodded his head numbly, and suddenly Lev's voice took on a rather happy tone, although his face managed to remain as calm and stoic as ever, "Good! Now we must be going. We have places to go and people to see." And with that he leapt to his feet, snatched Naruto up by the scuff of his neck like some sort of dog, and walked calmly out the front door, leaving the four civilians lying on the ground, and the decapitated ninja stuffed rather hastily in a trash bag.

---

To say that he was surprised would be an understatement, he was absolutely shocked. Here he was, reading the latest Ichi Ichi- I mean, doing paperwork, when suddenly a young man clad in dark robes walked through the door of his office, a rather ruffled Naruto tucked under his arm like a sack of potatoes, as if he did it every other day.

The young man casually walks up to Sarutobi, places Naruto down gently, turns to him and says respectfully, "Greetings Old One. My name is Lev and I have come with a proposal for you."

Sarutobi looks from the young man, Lev, to Naruto, who had a rather sad look on his face, refusing to make eye contact with him. He turned back to Lev and said, "Alright, but first tell me why you have brought Naruto here, and why does he look as if he just found out his favorite puppy just died."

Lev's tone suddenly became very serious, although his face remained as impassive as ever, and said, "Why the answer is simple Old One. Young Naruto here just recently found out about his tenant."

Sarutobi suddenly stands up, knocking over papers and a assortment of other objects as he did so and exclaimed, "WHAT?!?"

"Jiji," Naruto piped up, rather quietly, "Is it true? Do I really have the kyuubi inside me?"

Sarutobi suddenly went from totally outraged to kind and compassionate faster than you could blink an eye. He walked around the desk to Naruto, knelt down, placed his hands on his shoulders and said, "Yes Naruto. But you have to understand, it was for the good of the village. And you have to trust me when I say-"

At this Naruto perked up considerably and said, "I know Jiji. I know that I am not the furball," at this Naruto could have swore he heard a growl, "I know that you see me as the jailer and not the prisoner. And for that, I thank you." Naruto hugged Sarutobi, joyfull tears in his eyes. They stayed like that for a while until Lev decided that there was a little too much love in the room for his tastes.

"Ok people, break it up," he said, clapping his hands so as to get their attention. At this Sarutobi stood up and looked at him coldly, and said, "I assume that you are the one who told him."

At this Lev had the decency to look embarrassed, "Me," he said innocently, "No of course not. I mearly helped him to find out or himself."

Sarutobi sighed, knowing he wouldn't be getting anything else out of him so he decided to turn the conversion back to an earlier topic. "Very well," he said, "so what is this proposal you have for me?"

Lev's lips twitched slightly, as he beat down the urge to smirk, and gestured for Sarutobi to sit down. "Old One," he started to say as the hokage took his seat at his desk, "I have come to you tonight, in hopes that you might allow me to train young Naruto here, in an ancient art."

Sarutobi had taken out his trusty pipe and as he lit it asked, "And what pray tell, is this art you speak of?"

Lev replied, "Now Old One, I am not at liberty to tell you. However, if you do allow me this one little favor, then I can guarantee that you will find your village with a powerful tool at your disposal."

Sarutobi took a drag from his pipe. "So you wish to turn Naruto into a weapon. Is that it?"

"Not at all," Lev replied, "I am merely stating that after I finish teaching young Naruto here, I will be more than glad to teach others this art as well."

"I see," Sarutobi said as he puffed out a cloud of smoke, "Would there be certain qualifications to be taught this art?"

"Only that they may be young and have qualities I find worthy of being taught," Lev said, "So unfortunately I will not be able to teach anyone over the age of 15."

"And why is that," the aging hokage asked.

Lev suddenly became very serious and replied, "To be honest Old One, if I tried to teach anyone older they may get it in their heads that they can use this art to further their own ends, and so I find that the younger someone is, the easier it is to beat into their soft, underdeveloped minds that this art is not to be used lightly."

"True that," the old man replied, "Very well. You may teach Naruto this… art as you call it. And when the time comes that I feel that it would be for the good of the village for you to take on more pupils, then I shall allow it."

At this Lev's face softened considerably, "I thank you Old One," he then unsheathed a sword that neither Naruto nor Sarutobi knew that he had knelt down before the hokage and said in a completely serious voice, "From this day forth I pledge my loyalty to you, and no other. When the time comes that you require my skills, I shall follow your orders without question, and with the utmost obedience."

Sarutobi looked at Lev and with a flick of his wrist said, "Rise, and from this day forth, you are an official envoy of the hokage. You answer to no one but me, until the time comes when a suitable successor for hokage presents him or herself."

Lev stands and says, "thank you Old One. Now there is the small matter as to housing, supplies, and the dead ninja in Naruto's trash bin."

---

_Ok, I put a lot of effort into this update so I hope I manage to get some reviews out of it, if not I may take awhile to update again, but I will do my best to update quickly. Anyways, here is a little sneak peak as to what is coming up in the next chapter._

A new house, a new sensei, a new life. Maybe even some new friends. What awaits Naruto in the next chapter of "The Dark One Rituals". You'll just have to wait and find out.


End file.
